The present invention relates to an image map component and a method of determining user selection from an image.
As Internet connectivity rates increase, web pages can include more information, and as the number of users of the Internet diversifies to include less experienced computer users, web pages are becoming more and more interactive as user expectations for web page user friendliness are raised. Users no longer wish to use menus, scroll bars or to type options when a more intuitive alternative may be available.
For this reason, web page designers are turning to images to represent a set of options from which a user may choose. For example, a company producing a range of products, for example, household accessories, may wish to include an image showing each accessory in the range rather than having a user select from a menu of products or click on a product number. The company wants a user, on seeing their required choice in an image, simply to click on the required accessory and be brought to the relevant page.
An image map is a mechanism that enables a user to select one of several semantically distinct regions in a picture.
The best known implementation of an image map is provided as an HTML construct. To use an HTML image map, a content author uses an  less than IMG greater than  tag to define an image and specifies the USEMAP attribute to identify the image as a client-side image map. A series of  less than MAP greater than  and  less than AREA greater than  tags are then coded to define a series of geometrical shapes that define the regions within the image. The supported geometrical shapes are circles, rectangles, and polygons. HTML also provides equivalent support for server side image maps.
Some utilities do exist to allow an author to specify the geometrical shapes visually. However, these are still difficult and time-consuming to use for mapping complex, irregular regions.
Other examples of image maps, are tessellated rectangular images driven by JavaScript.
In any case, the definition of regions using geometrical primitives does not adequately support mapping of images with the following characteristics:
I. regions with complex, irregular shapes;
II. discontiguous regions belonging to the same semantic region; and
III. where highly accurate mapping is required to support exact visual feedback such as: rollover emphasis (a region is accurately highlighted to show mouse proximity) or selection emphasis (a region is accurately highlighted to show selection status)
Characteristics I and II are typical of complex images such as maps, images, or creative artwork. The lack of support for such images may place restrictions on the choice of image and the creativity of visual designers. Criterion III is related to usability. It is clear that, as well as a pleasing display, good visual feedback is a key factor in the usability of applications.
A technique that overcomes some of these prior art problems in providing xe2x80x9chot-spotsxe2x80x9d in an image is PanoramIX from IBM which varies the red component of each pixel in a mapping image and uses an external lookup table to translate that red component to a unique link. See http://blackburn.watson.ibm.com/panoramix/example.html and related pages for further information.
The present invention on the other hand provides an image map component an image map component comprising: means for reading a display image and for causing said display image to be displayed; means for reading a mapping image comprising a plurality of regions coloured from a pre-determined sequence of colours; means, responsive to user interaction with said display image, for obtaining a coordinate in said display image and for reading an index colour of a corresponding coordinate in said mapping image; means, responsive to said index colour being from said pre-determined sequence of colours, for indicating user selection of a region of said display image.
The present invention provides a general purpose component solution to be adapted to solve a range of different business problems by collaborating with other components. It supports both selection in other components in response to user interactions and selection within itself in response to calls from other components. The Panoramix technique is implemented within a specialized, dedicated application intended to navigate panoramas. It is not a Java Bean, ActiveX control, or component and does not appear to interact with external components.
The invention exploits accurate region definition to support precise, visually attractive highlighting. The Panoramix technique appears to use the mapping image simply to correlate mouse clicks to identify hot spots.
The invention emphasises the use of a predetermined sequences of colors to support a natural and direct definition process. The Panoramix technique does not use a predetermined sequence of colors. Disadvantages of the PanoramIX method include less visual discrimination between mapping colors for large numbers of regions, and the additional effort, cognitive load, and potential for errors introduced by the additional step of manually editing a lookup table using a proprietary syntax.
It also appears that cutaway emphasis and pluggable emphasis techniques are not addressed by the Panoramix technique.